1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device that holds a drink vessel which can rest on a plate or other surface allowing the user to maintain the drink vessel firmly thereon with one hand.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Most parties and other similar social occasions serve both food and drink. Obviously, the food is placed onto a plate while the drink is held within a drink vessel such as a cup, a can, or a glass. This very straightforward method, while very efficient in its containment performance, does have its drawbacks.
If the social occasion is such that food and drink are retrieved from one or more central serving stations, and upon retrieval of the bounty, the user returns to a seat at a table, the separate plate and drink vessel tend to be satisfactory for most such occasions. The problem arises when it is desired that the party attendee not return to a table for consumption of the food and drink being served. Such lack of desired destination can occur when the party host lacks sufficient sit down facilities to accommodate all of the guests. More typically, it is the host's desire to keep the attendees on their feet in order to keep such attendees moving in order to facilitate dynamic guest interaction.
As the guest must hold the food filled plate with one hand and the drink vessel with the other, this desire to keep a large portion of the guests on their feet at any given time, presents some problems. Although sipping a drink presents few problems, having both hands full makes the consumption of the food on the plate a tricky occurrence. The guest may sit at a table to consume both food and drink in relative comfort. However, either by necessity or by design, the availability of sitting locations may be at a premium, and many guests do not want to sit and want to mingle even while eating and drinking. The guest may find a location, such as a table, onto which either the plate or the drink vessel may be placed, thereby freeing one hand allowing for proper maneuverability between plate and drink vessel. However, this may also be problematic due to the limited availability, either by necessity or by design, of such rest areas available to the guest. Furthermore, this method also tends to tie down the guest, although not necessarily as much as sitting at a table.
Another method used to overcome the problem of having both hands full, is for the guest to retrieve their food or drink initially, and upon consumption of the initial item, to retrieve the other item in order to consume food and drink in sequential fashion. While this method will work as planned, most guests desire to have a drink during, as opposed to before or after, food consumption. Additionally, this arrangement throws into disarray parties that are designed for the intermingling of food and drink such as wine and cheese parties or beer and pretzel parties.
One other method employed by many guests is to attempt to hold the food plate and the drink vessel with one hand and to use the other hand to facilitate enjoyment of the consumables. While many guests may prove to be quite adept at succeeding with such maneuverability, other guests will proceed with disastrous and embarrassing results.
In order to facilitate the ability of a guest to be able to enjoy food and drink simultaneously without the need to sit at a table or to place either the food bearing plate or the drink vessel onto a fixed surface and without the need to perform heroic acrobatics, combined plate and drink vessel holders have been proposed. Such prior art devices are designed to serve as a plate in order to hold food and are also designed to hold a drink vessel so that a user can hold the food bearing plate and drink vessel with one hand so that the other hand may facilitate the enjoyment of the food and drink. Such prior art devices come in a variety of designs and work with varying degrees of efficiency, however, they tend to suffer from one or more drawbacks.
Many such food plate and drink vessel holding devices perform their intended task with great efficiency, yet such devices are unduly complex in design and construction, making such devices unusually expensive to employ. As these devices tend to be disposable, a high cost device is unjustified in most settings. Other prior art devices have the ability to hold only a specific type of drink vessel, making the utility of such devices limited in many situations. Still other devices require certain steps to be taken for proper device usage, which steps may not be obvious to a device novice guest, rendering such devices awkward in operation with the potential for device failure and the attendant embarrassment that results.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a device that serves as a drink vessel holder which can be used with any plate or other surface, overcoming the above mentioned problems found in the art. Specifically, such a device must be of relatively simple and straightforward design and construction and must be relatively easy to manufacture. Such a device must be able to accommodate a large variety of drink vessels that are commonly found at parties. Use of such a device must be quick and easy and the chance for potential disaster during device usage must be relatively small.